EU-Schengen: Schengen's last year? (feature)
01 September 1998
Under the Amsterdam Treaty the Schengen acquis is to be incorporated into the acquis communautaire (through the revised Treaty establishing the European Communities, TEC) and the justice and home affairs acquis (through the revised Treaty on European Union, TEU). Thus the Schengen Agreement of 1990 which was put into effect in March 1995 will be integrated into the EU when the Amsterdam Treaty comes into effect - this is expected by the summer of 1999 which will coincide with the newly-elected European Parliament (June, 1999) and the appointment of a new Commission (December 1999). In addition, the Schengen Secretariat of seventy-one staff is to be integrated into Directorate General H (justice and home affairs) of the General Secretariat of the Council.
However, the (Schengen) Protocol in the Amsterdam Treaty allows the Schengen states (13 out of the 15 EU member states, plus Norway and Iceland) to continue to introduce new "Schengen" measures if agreement cannot be reached with all 15 EU states (that is, including the UK and Ireland). The Presidency of the Schengen Executive Committee will be held by Germany for a full year (July 1998-June 1999) and during the first six months of 1999 Germany will also hold the Presidency of the EU. The "German Presidency of Schengen: Work Programme" makes clear the continuity of Schengen:
"In effect it [incorporation] brings to an end the autonomous existence of Schengen in terms of intergovernmental cooperation: the cooperation of the Schengen states will now take place under the European banner... The Schengen projects which cannot be concluded before entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty will be pursued under the auspices of the EU."
Whether the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty will see the "end of Schengen" or a new "Schengen-EU Fortress Europe" era is not clear.
German Presidency work programme
The Germany Presidency Schengen work programme covers the following:
1) extensions in police cooperation including the quicker, pro-active, exchange of information "prior" to a request, "cross-border monitoring", and the extension of "hot pursuit" to cross-border air flights.
2) "Security of external borders" includes a Schengen pilot project on "clandestine immigration/routes" (October 1998) and the creation of "joint border control and surveillance teams".
3) "Harmonisation of visa policy": the aim is to do away with the "grey" list of 23 countries whose nationals are required to have visas by some Schengen states but not by others. By the end of 1998 all third country nationals "wishing to enter the Schengen space" will have to "submit to the obligation to obtain a visa or will have to obtain an exemption".
4) "Standardised models of residents permits for foreigners": the Schengen states intend to introduce "standardised" residence permits on 31 December 1998 while the EU's plans envisage their introduction by 17 December 2002. This would become an effective "EU" policy if 13 out of 15 member states then introduce this measure.
5) "Removal": a harmonised "certificate of departure" is to be introduced for people who having been "ordered to leave the territory of a Schengen state".
6) "External relations": as Switzerland is now "surrounded exclusively by Schengen states" and that therefore "an intensification of cooperation" would be "beneficial".
7) Schengen Information System (SIS): the SIS, based in Strasbourg has a "Year 2000" problem. The planned "fix" is not due to come into full effect until "March 1999". Work in "SIS I+", which will extend the SIS to the Nordic states (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland), is at a very early stage of development. "SIS II", which will incorporate the central and eastern European countries is "currently in the planning stage". Other developments cover the inclusion of "Europol indicators" on the SIS and the completion of the SIRENE Network Phase II.
German<